TWENTY-FOUR
The blustery wind and rain foretold of a cold night in the thickening of fall, and the group rode quietly until they arrived at the crater. Wae Relin, seeing the wreckage of the forest for the first time, was in awe how anyone could have lived through such devastation, but none of the women wanted to discuss that night again – not now, not here. Lydria stopped and knelt quietly by her father’s grave. They were close to Eifynar, and on horseback it wouldn’t take long. All of them were thinking of a warm bed and hot food, but they gave Lydria privacy and waited for her before moving forward.
“Lydria, strangers have passed this way recently. Several, on horseback.”
Lydria relayed the message and before the echoes of her words had faded both Wae Relin and Haidrea were off their mounts and moving forward looking for tracks. Lydria moved to stand near Haustis and the two waited until the Wae Relin and Haidrea returned to their horses.
“We should move more slowly from this point,” Haidrea said. Her defenses were up. Wae Relin agreed and the two prepared to walk ahead of the horses.
“No,” Lydria said finally, with an authority she did not entirely feel. “Kimi is ahead of us, and he will let us know what we might find. It is getting late, it is cold, and we are all prepared for food and proper rest. If trouble comes our way, I think we can dispatch a group of highwaymen. Soon we will be close to Eifynar where they will be watching as well. I’d rather move quickly toward that destination than linger here. If there are people in front of us on horseback, it stands to reason they will remain so. If they are headed to the village, it is also best we be there as quickly as possible in case our help is needed.”
Haidrea looked to Haustis who motioned for her and Wae Relin to regain their saddles and move forward.
There were no sentries to meet them as there were when Lydria first made her way to the town. The trees had lost most of their foliage and with the sun spreading its last rays in front of them, they could see the woods to either side of the path were clear. Kimi, despite his warning of the travelers, wasn’t concerned and that made Lydria feel easier, but not at ease. “Who do you think it might be,” the woman asked from the quick trot of her saddle.
“I have no idea. They were few and they were not in a hurry. If there was trouble, there would be signs in the forest. The other animals would be wary and quiet. There is no sign of birds who follow violence.”
Lydria for a moment, felt like a child re-learning lessons from her father. A battle or large loss of life inevitably brings carrion birds, and quickly. The skies here were largely empty. Soon, Haidrea dropped back from her position at the front with Wae Relin and leaned in to speak with her friend.
“It is not often we have travelers. Those who do find us, do so largely by accident, as Eifynar is far away from the main trails,” Haidrea confided. “Yet it seems they know the way here and the tracks show a consistent movement – not the halting and turning you would expect of someone who might be lost.”
Without more to add, the group rode along silently until they were able to make out the telltale sign of a fire – a faint orange tinge among the treetops, brightened against the darkness. There were people in Eifynar and when Lydria and Haidrea entered the village, they found Wae Ilsit and Drae Ghern waiting for them with a man of Wesolk. He was old, but not like Drae Ghern. His back was straight and his eyes clear. He looked up when the group came in and smiled in a way that was both warm and welcoming but made Lydria suspicious just the same. “Kimi, do a circuit of the village and see if there are more men or horses about.”
“I will. But if it makes you feel better, I sense no tension here, but I smell deer and … is that partridge? I love partridge. They are devilishly hard to catch…”
“Kimi!”
“I’m on my way.”
In Wesolk, Lydria was sure this man would have stepped forward to be greeted, but he didn’t as much as flinch in their direction. He obviously knew the customs of the Eifen and seemed to be comfortable maintaining them. It was Wae Ilsit who moved first to greet his daughter as the travelers dismounted. Following what she had learned, Lydria was next and hugged the man warmly, proceeding then to Drae Ghern who seemed very happy to see them. Wae Ilsit greeted Wae Relin and when told of his lineage, hugged him for a long time before standing the younger man to his right, so that he might introduce the last guest to all.
Even with the revelation that an Eifen of the west was amongst them, the people of Eifynar were not as excited as they soon would be. The western Eifen were largely unknown and it had been generations since the name Eigraenal had been spoken openly, and so, Lydria watched Wae Ilsit, with a formality and stiffness that she understood, introduce Haustis. The entire town reacted as if a god had been dropped in their midst and it was some time before Wae Ilsit could restore calm. While he was doing this, Haustis reached out to Drae Ghern, holding him by both hands and staring at him for long moments. It seemed like ages before she pulled away and looked toward her son.
“Honored Haustis, Daughter, friend Lydria, and Wae Relin of our kin of the west, I would have you meet Krieger, a friend of mine for many years, and a steadfast and true ally of the Eifen in the kingdom called Wesolk, to the south.”
TWENTY-FIVE
“Well met.” Krieger spoke smoothly and with the assurance of an old friend. He was polite and met each of their eyes as he spoke, smiling the entire time. His voice was firm but not demanding, and like his body, his voice gave away none of the years evident in his skin and hair.
For a man of his age, a fair bit older than her father, Lydria believed, Krieger’s hair was thick and long even while being more white than black. He wore his hair in a small braid extending to the top of his shoulder blades and tied in the same fashion as Haidrea’s. In fact, it was tied remarkably well for someone not of Eifynar. Lydria wondered for a moment, if it was tied for the same reason – for stealth and combat. Certainly no one would take so much time for vanity alone. After a few moments, Krieger reached his hand out to Haustis and shook it as in the fashion of Wesolk and said, “It is good to see you again, Haustis,” and then he moved toward her to greet her in the fashion of the Eifen.
“You don’t know me…but you must be Lydria.” Krieger moved toward her and reached out a gentle hand to her shoulder. “I knew your father Cargile very well. We never spoke more than once or twice but reports from the guard often featured his name and it was well respected within the castle. He was a good and honest man with integrity and he is sorely missed.”
Lydria didn’t know what to say. She hadn’t expected the compassion or that this man would have known of her father. “Thank you, sir,” she said. Her father had always taught her that if she didn’t know the rank, she should always assume there was one, and assume it was higher than her own.
After greeting Haidrea and Wae Relin, Krieger looked around as if searching for something else. After a moment of doing this, he turned to Lydria and asked the whereabouts of the most exceptional member of their company.
Assuming from Drae Ghern’s smile that Krieger must have been told about Kimi, she offered that he was hunting.
“That makes sense.” Krieger smiled again. It may have been a trick of the shadows caused by dancing firelight, but Lydria was almost sure he winked. Before she could decide, however, Wae Ilsit was motioning everyone to the great hall where Lydria had first spoken to the chief and Drae Ghern.
The hall was more comfortably appointed than it had been previously, Lydria noted. Many of the benches and boards had been removed and there were rugs and soft cushions laid out. There was food prepared and distributed on platters resting on low stumps around an area near a fire at the far end of the room. It was obvious where Wae Ilsit expected his guests to sit while they spoke.
“You have traveled far and must be hungry,” Wae Ilsit said. “Please eat your fill while we speak. We may be here long. Many stories will be told this night and not all of them pleasant.”
As they settled
Drae Ghern was smiling warmly at Lydria, but his eyes seemed sad. Occasionally, the old man glanced at Haustis, as if to be in her presence was his greatest wish. Looking at Drae Ghern and knowing the secret Haustis kept, Lydria felt sad and slightly ashamed that she knew the secret Drae Ghern did not. A look at Haustis, and she felt sorry for her as well – it was evident the gathering was uncomfortable for everyone. The sidelong glances Haustis stole toward Drae Ghern, who seemed so much her elder, were as if she were trying to absorb as much of him as she could while nearby, but helpless to make her feelings known.
Lydria looked to her hands and pressed the stump of her finger against her palm, hoping for a small tingle of pain in the healed skin to help her focus. There was no pain, but she felt as though she could bend the knuckle that no longer existed and watched the empty space where she could feel the missing fingertip moving back and forth. For a moment, she wondered if magic could make it whole again.
Krieger sat cross legged on a large rug to the side of the fire, his back to the wall and facing the entrance. Lydria laughed inwardly at how he surveyed the room and even amongst friends took the most defensible position. Lydria wondered how much time he had spent with Wae Ilsit and how well he knew the Eifen to be so comfortable among them.
Haidrea took food from a platter near her shoulder and passed the plate to her left. In this way, all the plates soon found their way amongst the guests. While they ate, no one spoke, and many of the men took off what garments they could as the fire warmed the room. Finally, Drae Ghern clapped his hands and raised his eyes to the rafters above, invoking the spirits to watch over the group and provide wise counsel. What guidance he sought she could not yet guess.
Wae Ilsit broke the silence that followed. “We are here to discuss the wielder Wynter and the threat he poses to both Eifen and the people of Wesolk. Many days and nights have passed since Nethyal and his warriors went north into the land of ice and snow, and we have heard little from travelers and none directly. It is my hope Krieger will have a more useful story that will set us upon a path of celebration, rather than a path of war.”
Krieger nodded his appreciation for the introduction and scanned the room, judging his audience and taking note of their attention.
“Thank you, friend, but my stories are not cause for celebration. My stories are full of sadness and betrayal. The future shown me by the tidings of my agents throughout these lands is one of death and misery should we sit idly by and wait for danger to pass.”
Krieger softened his tone and continued, pacing out his words like an old man telling night time stories to his grandchildren. “There were reports some months ago of a man wandering north on his own. He was a ragged beggar many thought, mumbling to himself and nervously looking about as if waiting for some unseen enemy to collapse upon him. I gave the reports no notice. There are many paranoid wandering beggars and most only get a second counting when they are found dead in a ditch, the victim of crime or starvation, or cold, or drink. In time, however, the beggar appeared in the stories of others. The new stories told of how he had taken a companion, a strong warrior who walked along, sometimes carrying him, sometimes tending him, but always by his side.”
Krieger paused for several seconds as the men and women in the lodge stared at their hands and looked tentatively at one another.
“Stories have come more recently from travelers from the northern provinces that mention a new master of a small village by the shores of a great bay. This village has always been a small place where fishermen and hunters brave the cold, follow the herds, fish through holes in the ice, and who live a simple, plain, and rough existence. The new master of this village gives his name freely. By you, he is known as Wynter. The people of the village called him lord for a time. They now call him king. The people have even taken a new name for themselves and their town – the Kelmen of Solwyn.” Krieger took a small puff from a pipe offered by Drae Ghern.
“The name, Kelmen is not unimportant, and chosen, I think, to send a message. One of my informants was a man named Kelmenth, and I have not heard from him in a long time. That he is now involved in Wynter’s plan is what we are being led to believe. My information now comes from outside Solwyn, in the form of letters from land holders, mayors of paltry villages, and minor nobles whose towns have been devastated by the flow of people moving toward Wynter and his new kingdom. The letters to Bayside request help – troops and weapons to put down this man who upsets the balance in the north.”
“And the other, who walked by the side of Wynter through the frozen north?” Wae Ilsit spoke with stones in his voice. He barely breathed, and his jaw was clenched as he forced the words through his teeth. Lydria understood that he knew, and a quick glance to Drae Ghern, confirmed he knew as well. His head hung low and his eyes, barely discernable in the harsh glow of the fire, were red and glistening with moisture.
For his part, Krieger was hesitant to give a name; not because he didn’t know, but because he did not want to cause pain to Wae Ilsit. Spy or assassin or politician, Lydria decided, Krieger was genuinely fond of Wae Ilsit and Drae Ghern and would rather they be spared his stark appraisal of the situation. But there was no other way.
“His name is Nethyal. A name he also has not hidden. I am very sorry, my friend.” Krieger reached his hand toward Wae Ilsit but was stopped by a small motion from the chief.
“And his companions – what have you heard from them?”
Here the entire company leaned forward slightly, for no one had heard what had become of the warriors who left the village with Nethyal. Krieger paused, trying to find an alternative to words he again did not want to speak. “They were found during the last moon, lying in a camp not six days march north of this place. They had been killed in their sleep.” Krieger opened his pack and took out a fox pelt and handed it to Wae Ilsit. “These were found near the men.” Wae Ilsit lifted the burnt orange covering to find three small weapons, gifts from fathers who would never see their sons again.
“It is so.” Wae Ilsit’s voice broke once as he muttered the words and then fell silent.
“I would not think Nethyal capable of such treachery,” offered Haidrea, to console her father.
Wae Ilsit looked up briefly and smiled at his daughter, acknowledging her grief, but it was Drae Ghern who spoke. “The shadow of power is upon Nethyal and has been for many seasons. When Lydria came to us, Nethyal above all thought to use her power for harm. He sees in Wynter an opportunity to bask in that power even though it does not belong to him.”
All eyes in the hall moved from Drae Ghern and made their way around the room, silently appraising each person as if they could determine simply by looking, whether such treachery lurked behind the eyes of their fellows. At last each set of eyes turned to Krieger, a man they did not know who, despite his apparent familiarity with the Eifen, was not of them.
Wae Ilsit saw the glances and stares and looked at Haustis who nodded, and the chief straightened his back, raised his head and looked at the legendary woman.
“Many seasons ago, soon after I became chief, I was granted an audience with the gentle Haustis who sits beside us. It has always been said that Haustis greets each new chief, but I thought it was a tale, a legend that could not possibly be true. When she came, however, I knew the truth of it, and together we spoke to each other and with the spirits for several days. We spoke as we hunted, as we ate, before we slept; we spoke at great length and shared our stories from the spirits. Within these stories there was a warning, that there would come a warrior who would betray his people. For years I was wary and stood guard against this thing, but our warriors were true and strong and there was no need to fear them. Even as I sent Nethyal on his way north, I did not see in him the evil of which the spirits spoke – the man who chose to pursue power above all else.
“And I must carry that shame and burden as the father and chief of a traitor to his people. For now, however, we must all be open and tell our stories. Only then can we hope to work toget
her to avenge our fallen warriors and bring them peace.”
The lodge was quiet as Wae Ilsit finished and Lydria wasted no time in beginning her own story, which all had heard except Krieger. For a long while she spoke of the meeting of Wynter in the forest, the death of her father, of finding Kimi, and a description of magic and her ability to use this new power. To Lydria’s relief, Krieger did not interrupt. He did not ask her to perform magic. He did not ask what things she could do with her power. He said nothing and showed no expression as she spoke.
When she finished her story, Krieger cleared his throat and thanked Lydria. “As you have been so open with all of us, I feel it is time that I am open with you.”
TWENTY-SIX
Krieger’s story took a long time. Food was eaten, pipes were lit, smoked, and refilled. Fires were kept alight, and the story was well told. Only Wae Ilsit, it seemed, was privy to more than portions of Krieger’s story, but everyone was encouraged by his candor. By the time he was finished, it was time to sleep, for it had been decided that in the morning Krieger would travel south to Bayside with Lydria, Kimi, Haidrea, and Haustis. Wae Ilsit and Drae Ghern both deemed it a wise decision and even Haustis conceded the people of the south needed to be aware of the danger they faced. Lydria did not agree it wise to travel south when the danger lie to the north. Nor did she think it wise to deliver the power she wielded to the king of Bayside.
As they made their way toward their rooms for the evening, Krieger took Lydria by the arm and spoke softly so only she could hear. “I know you are hesitant to show your power to the king, and that is wise. I ask you, I beg of you, do not use your power, any of it, in Bayside. If he will abide, put Kimi on a leash and we can say he is a tamed pet you raised – if not, he should remain in the forest until we head back to this place. I have worked many years to keep the peace in our kingdom, I don’t want to provide Ahlric a weapon of conquest that will start another war.”
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